From Shapeshifting Gamepads to Gamer Subscription Services

By: Laura McQuarrie - Apr 25, 2015

The most popular April 2015 gaming trends are indicative of a huge shift that's happening in the video game industry. Although plugging into a video game is a huge source of entertainment, many games are being transformed into tools to assist with health, debt or acquiring exclusive discounts when shopping.

This shift in gaming for a purpose can be categorized as divergence, one of the key patterns of opportunity addressed in Trend Hunter CEO Jeremy Gutsche's New York Times bestselling book, Better and Faster. Innovations that are divergent are best recognized as ones that oppose the mainstream. Putting practicality before pure enjoyment are games like Givling, which helps students pay off debt through rounds of trivia, and Ubisoft's Dig Rush, which treats lazy eye.